Winding Down
An idiosyncratic look at, and comment on, the week's net, technology, science and other news
by Alan Lenton
10 November 2024
This issue notes that the Communications of the ACM is now open access, learns that the Vivaldi web browser is holding out against being infected with so-called artificial intelligence, and draws your attention to a study on why some people don’t evacuate in the face of disasters.
The quote is from the Magna Carta, and there is a set of fifteen stunning pictures from the recent (31 Oct – 2 Nov) Day of the Dead celebrations.
And, if that’s not enough, the Scanner section has links to topics on detecting failing warp drives, forty years of Microsoft spreadsheet errors, a new source of lithium discovered in Arkansas, the world’s first coal-fired power station, taming rogue algorithms in the public sector, and monkeys failing to complete writing the works of Shakespeare before the universe dies!
Enjoy!
Alan Lenton
Communications of the ACM Is Now Open Access
The magazine of the Association for Computing Machinery, Communications of the ACM, is now open on to non-members on the web. The ACM is the professional body for computing and information technologists, and this move opens up 60 years worth of material to non-members. A fantastic resource is now available online free of charge!
https://cacm.acm.org/news/cacm-is-now-open-access-2/
As major web browser makers snuggle up to AI - skeptical holdouts remain
I’m glad to see that my preferred browser - Vivaldi - is holding out against the general move to infect web browsers with AI services. They asked their users if they wanted AI and the answer was a pretty clear NO. The CEO, John von Tetzchner told The Register, “When we ask our users whether they want AI, the answer is a pretty clear no. The users do not see the value and neither do we. We are also concerned about this leading to more data collection and user profiling. AI is in many ways the next step in the surveillance economy and we would rather see things reversed there.”
Definitely the way to go as far as I, for one, am concerned!
https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/10/web_browsers_ai_holdout_vivaldi/
Evacuating in disasters like Hurricane Milton – there are reasons people stay, and it’s not just stubbornness
Phys.org has an interesting study on why people refuse to evacuate ahead of disasters, and the answer isn’t always stubbornness, though there can be plenty of that, of course.
The article is fascinating. Never having had to evacuate, I had never really thought about it before, but as the study points out, “Evacuating from a hurricane requires money, planning, the ability to leave and, importantly, a belief that evacuating is better than staying put.”
Well worth a read - I found it a really interesting, and valuable, study, especially as I suspect not leaving would be my choice in a situation like this...
https://phys.org/news/2024-10-evacuating-disasters-hurricane-milton-people.html
Quotes worth remembering:
“To no man will we sell, or deny, or delay, right or justice.”
The Magna Carta, clause 40
Pictures:
Wow! Celebrate Day of the Dead with these 15 scenes of festivities and remembrance
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/celebrate-day-of-the-dead-with-these-15-scenes-festivities-remembrance-180985374/
Scanner:
New study simulates gravitational waves from a failing warp drive
https://www.aei.mpg.de/1171367/what-no-one-has-seen-before-new-study-simulates-gravitational-waves-from-failing-warp-drive
Microsoft Excel’s bloopers reel: 40 years of spreadsheet errors
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/oct/28/microsoft-excels-bloopers-reel-40-years-of-spreadsheet-errors
A giant hidden source of lithium was just discovered in Arkansas
https://www.sciencealert.com/a-giant-hidden-source-of-lithium-was-just-discovered-in-arkansas
The Holborn Viaduct and the world’s first coal-fired power station
https://livinglondonhistory.com/the-holborn-viaduct-and-the-worlds-first-coal-fired-power-station/
UK Lords push bill to tame rogue algorithms in public sector
Peer says government needs to learn lessons from Post Office scandal
https://go.reg.cx/tdml/3ad4/6709bbff/e8e4b194/4eer
Universe would die before a monkey with a keyboard writes Shakespeare, study finds
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/nov/01/infinite-monkey-theorem-keyboard-tyepwriter-shakespeare-study
Footnote:
Please send suggestions for stories to alan@ibgames.com and include the words Winding Down in the subject line, unless you want your deathless prose gobbled up by my voracious Thunderbird spam filter...
Alan Lenton
alan@ibgames.com
10 November 2024
Alan Lenton is a retired on-line games designer, programmer and sociologist (among other things), the order of which depends on what he is currently working on! His web site is at http://www.ibgames.com/alan/index.html.
Past issues of Winding Down can be found at http://www.ibgames.com/alan/winding/index.html.
If you have any questions or comments about the articles on my web site, click here to send me email.